Manufacture of artificial marble.



UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANZ SCHLATTNER, 0F BIESENTHAL, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 WILHELM STREITZIG, OF REICHENBERG, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANZ ScHLA'r'rNEn, a subject of the Emperor of'Germany, residing at Biesenthal, Germany, have lnvented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Marble, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a process of manufacturing artificial marble.

There already exist various processes for the manufacture of artificial marble, in which the ieces of marble are manufactured of sue a sizeas to be ready for use, (6. g in the form of building blocks, tiles, tablets, etc.), or in which larger piecesare first made, which are to be cut to the required size. For the reparation of the plastic mass to be mol ed, there has been employed cement, (tricalcium silicate) and stone dust, according to the intended use of the marble, with the addition of any suitable coloring matter and also modifying ingredients added to the water Special machines are employed for mixing the mass, the construction of which machines varies according as to whether the color is added to the mass, while said color is in powdered or liquid condition. W'ith all of these processes it has hitherto been impossible to pro duce an artificial marble which showed broken vein conglomerate intermixtures, such as those shown by some of the. natural marbles, but I am able to attain this purpose by the process described below, it being of special importance that the mass, which is contained in a mold and consists of liquid and solid ingredients, is well shaken, it of course being an essential feature that the liquid mass possesses the same or nearly the same specific gravity as the solid ingredients.

The mass, which consists of cement, stonedust, coloring matter and water containing water soluble fiuorids, and of even or varying appearance, is first divided into small pieces, mixed, screened over with. liquid vein-forming material, again mixed, poured over with a thin-flowing mass which absorbs the color, and then put into a mold.

In order to reduce a close and intimate combination 0 the individual articles with through-going veins of natura appearance, the mold is shaken in a peculiar manner and the-masses then subjected to pressure. In

Qrder to obtain further cross-veins and dis- Specification of Letters Patent.

locations, in imitation of natural marble, the structure of the masses is torn bythe powerful shocks and blows, and thus the peculiar structure of the natural stone is obtained, and, by the addition thereafter. of specially prepared unbroken masses, round, or of other characteristic shape, conglomerates, mixtures and speckles of natural appearance are obtained. During the breaking operation, the mass is dampened for several dayswith water containing fluorid. The bodies so obtained can be ound, the surfaces filed, then again groun and afterward laid in water with which a fiuorid is mixed, whereupon the body may again be Igl'round and polished. Large blocks may rst be prepared" and then cut into slabs and further treated as required.

From the above it can be seen that the new process can be carried out in the most varied manners. .Oneexample might be the mixture of cement, (tricalcium silicate) and 5* stone-dust to which durin the mixing, water with the addition 0 a fiuorid is added, until the Whole form's a pulp. After this, the coloring matter is added which gives the marble the desired color. A portion of this mixture is then taken away and a further amount of a second'coloring matter is added to the remainder." this then cut into small pieces which are well mixed, whereupon the vein forming material is sifted over the mass, the desired veining beingtaken into consideration. The mass is then roughly mixed, and is spread out to produce a layer; A thin-flowing pulp, having that color intended for the second veins or speckles, is then shaken over said layer, and'the whole is made into one hea from which the individual molds are fille The mechanical shaking of the mpld as above described is then given, the liquid color shades runnin in and among each other, and thin flowing veins and characteristic color shades and speckles, such as occur in natural stones, are produced. V

According to this process every kind of marble with through-going veins of natural appearance can be produced.

Patented Dec. 8,1914.

Application filed March 27, 1914. Serial No. 827,604.

After loosening,the surfaces of the slabs may be ground, and the surface filed and smoothed oil and, when the filling substance is solid, the plates" are again ground and after this grinding laid for three days in a bath of water with the addition of a -fiuorid. By means of this bath, the slabs are again hardenediand the slabs thus hardened are again ground and polished as in the case with natural marble.

I have referred in this specification to stone dust, and I call attention to the fact that this material must be in the form of dust, but that is to say a fine powder, and

- not in the form of ordinary crushed stone,

composed of granules or pieces of considerable size. Ordinary sand can not be substituted for the stone dust, and the particles of the stone dust must be very much smaller than the grains of ordinary. sand.

What I claim is 4 1. A process of making artificial marble which comprises mixing cement, stone dust, Water and a fiuorid in pro ortions to form a vpulp, adding different co oring materials, to different portions thereof, mixing the several portions and fresh dry material in proportions to form asolid mass, subdividing the solid mass, and adding theretoa suitable veinforming material, roughly mixing to leave the principal veins in the mass, adding a second fluent vein-forming material, placing the 1 mixture into molds,

shaking the molds, and thereafter allowing the mass to solidify.

2. A process ofmaking artificial marble which comprises producing a mixture conroughly mixing the mass, placing the mass into molds, and violently agitating the molds to allow the vein-forming material'to spread out.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANZ SCHLATTNER.

Witnesses F. HREITZIG, THE. AGTA. 

